Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Bloodied Shards IC (CLOSED!)

Vee marveled at the small story telling device, laughing at key points and overall thoroughly enjoying what they perceived to be some kind of ancient toy. Hit a button, hear a story. They wondered if after it was over they would get a new story if they hit the button again, or just the same one. Regardless Vee wanted this small device, their friends would love it.

It was as they listened to what the figure said that it dawned on them. Bag of gold, not something they were keenly familiar with lacking currency in their native ways. They knew what a bag was, and what the color and material were though. Then there was the shard. Another simple toy Vee used to play with their vae. They stopped laughing and even smiling as the reality that this might not be a story at all....or rather just one yet to be told. A story of their world, probably the bare lands more likely, and a story of Vee.

The thought straightened their face and they turned away a moment. Not Vee....this incredibly powerful sorceress was not something Vee was supposed to apprehend. The message text clearly defined things in a way that was not in context with present settings either. It was easy for Vee to determine this message was not for them.

Vee stared down at their vae, still on their knees and looking at their disconnected clones serving as limbs in a heavy sadness. At Vee's command they stared back in equal expression. They decided their vae should cheer them up. They began to approach Vee's knees.

"It's okay, this is for the barelands!"

"No trouble comes to the forest."

They began saying, helping Vee to calm down. They didn't know what to do with the information. They stared down at their supportive vae, and the distraction was enough to, well...distract them.

It wasnt until the buzzing of two vae which were not theirs became loud enough they looked up to see them. They came straight at Vee's face, and in response they stood up.

*BLAM*

Vee was tackled from behind, spilling themselves in a splattering mess on their face, a hysterically laughing Vynym they were very familiar with on top of them.

Kae laughed nearly maniacally at having snuck up on Vee, and wrapped their arms around their body, one arm over their shoulder and one under the opposite arm.

"Kae!" Vee shouted, and quickly their vae jumped into action, buzzing quickly up to the side of Kae's head. One grabbed a piece of their leafy hair appendages and began flying backwards while another landed on Vee's back and began kicking Kae's earlobe like a kicking bag. Kae's own two vae arrived and pulled them back, and after a short shoving match from Vee's vae, the sets separated and Kae climbed off of Vee, still laughing while their vae returned to their pods on their chest.

Vee turned over and stood up, their own vae buzzed off behind them and grabbed the shard which had clattered off in the distance in the scuffle. The other vae returned to their pod, leaving only the one out, which took flight nearby holding their 'axe'.

"I follow you 2 hours! You never hear me!" Kae exclaimed in laughter before looking about the area. "What this? Your new home?"

Vee turned back to look at the pillars a moment, "Not know, I find today," they said before reaching down to grab the holodisc. With that in their hand they took a step forward and reached for the gold bag. Kae watched intently with great curiosity, eyeing the holodisc in particular and paying no attention to Vee's vae nearby.

"What this?" they asked walking towards Vee, who turned about to view their approach, "Found toy?"

"Not toy," Vee replied bringing up in front of them and gripping it with both hands.

"It is! come let me play!" Kae reached for the holodisc as they arrived.

"No! Not toy!" Vee exclaimed, holding one hand out to block Kae's reach and the other set behind them to lengthen the distance between the shard and Kae.

"Come! One play!" Kae insisted, pushing into Vee who stumbled backwards as they resisted.

"Not toy! Is message!" Vee shouted, and with that their hovering vae flew in to distract Kae. The small figure, which still held the shard, flew right up to Kae's face and began wiggling the shard in their face. Kae quickly moved back, stumbling backwards themselves in surprise. In the release, Vee's last stumble caused them to drop both the holodisc, and the small bag of gold spilling several coins out on the ground.

Kae launched two vae in defense, who immediately rushed the shard wielding vae, and after a short dodge and approach, one managed to get their hands on the shard, with the second one joining the grasp quickly thereafter.

Vee looked back at the three vae with the holodisc now in their hand, and Kae staring back seated on their rear, having tumbled backwards in the release. Vee quickly rushed over to the flying threesome all doing glorious combat for the shard suddenly. Kae instinctively scrambled to their feet too with a smile on their face, considering this some playful roughhousing.

"Not toy! This important!" Vee shouted, reaching their hand at the group to retrieve the shard. As they did this Kae's vae released their grip on the shard, hoping to use the distraction to tackle Vee again playfully. The recoil from the release pulled the sharp pointed end of the shard back just as Vee reached in, and the shard stabbed directly into the palm of their hand.

Vee shrieked in pain and stepped back, their vae almost mindlessly floating off to the side with the shard in the distraction of the pain. It wasn't soaked in Vee's blood, but about half of it was indeed covered completely.

Vee met eyes with Kae who was beginning to charge them at this point when it happened. The constant rainfall changed directions, and as Kae approached, Vee had a thought they focused on.

The rain falling in all directions turned on Kae, sending their flying vae buzzing helplessly out of the sky in a tailspin and blasting Kae in the face repeatedly. It only happened for a moment and it was over. Kae was close lined back to their seated position and their vae were off in the distance picking themselves up off the ground.

Kae stared back in shock, and Vee returned the look with a nearly equal look of surprise. They clutched their hand and looked down at it, covering the hole in one palm with the other before looking back to Kae.

"Told you....is not toy....is important."

"Rough day?" The bartender asks as he cleans a glass.

She snickers. "Rough day? That doesnt even come close to it what it is... more like rough every day." She chugs the extremely alcoholic drink down. hic "I mean I cant ever go back... never ever. Ya know? And I hurts a lot of people's fwelings." Her sense of awareness was getting hazy after zombie # 3.

Seated next to her was 2 gentleman talking. "Did ya hear?! The Lighthouse Demon has struck again!" The gentleman with an eyepatch proclaimed.

"Impossible! Shes just a legend!" The man with the mermaid pinup tattoo on his shoulder hollard. "You are crazy."

"No! I heard it from a reliable source! He said she came there all the time and was sweet. A human! She disguised herself or something! She used her metal tail thing and split open the weapon salesman's stomach!! Guts poured everywhere!"

"The poor guy fell victim to her ways. He was a good hearted man.."

Jules gripped her glass and closed her eyes.

"How could she do that? What possesses someone to take a life like that! Al Genkenz was a saint!"

She squeezes the glass so hard it shatters as she slams her fist on the table. "That man was terrible! You dont know what you are talking about!" Her eyes full of tears as blood poured from her hand and glass sticking out of it.

Then men look at her. "What do you mean? What could he possibly have done to make you say that?"

She bit her bottom lip hard. "You're not a woman... and that man was NO saint!" He put up his hand to rest it on her shoulder. "DONT TOUCH ME!" she slaps him, places her money on the table and looks around at the scene she caused. Seeing people stare at her she runs out of the bar. "I'm sorry..." she mumbles.

Victi turns her eyes to look at the scene. She's dealt with jerkwads before, and had murdered or assaulted her fair share of various types of bigoted idiots. Probably more than her fair share, but who was counting?

She looks back at Drake for a moment to mutter "One second, please," and then stands up.

For one thing, she's six feet tall and coated in pure-white fur. Fairly pretty, too. She tends to get noticed fairly easily.

For another, she made no attempt to be subtle about walking over to the confrontation and saying to the men in a creepily cheerful tone, "I'd recommend leaving the obviously traumatized person alone before I give you something far worse than demons to worry about."

He'd likewise become suspicious of being followed as they left the forest, considering he shares a few sharp senses with the kitsune sorceress. Unlike Victi, he couldn't do much to confirm, let alone track, the presence of a tail, but he did keep a close eye on the crazy woman he'd asked out as part of a desperate gamble to save his skin. Watching her helped validate his concerns; she was definitely keeping track of...something.

The bar they entered wasn't the same establishment Drake had spent the prior night in, but rumors spread, and now he sees heads turning away from them. People cupping hands over their mouths and whispering to their neighbors. Some look at him, but if he bothered to stare back, they hastily turn their eyes. Very few people, if anyone, dares to look at Victi, but his sharp ears catch questions about her too.

He takes a seat, orders a drink, and waits for Victi to order hers when a human-ish girl who'd followed them in (Oh, yeah, she might be the one stalking us; she's a little cute.) shatters her glass, screams at a group of men, and runs out of the store, tears streaming down her face.

He stands with Victi, shooting daggers past her and at the men who'd done that. He even takes a step forward to confront them himself, but the sorceress beats him to it, leaving the chimera to cross his arms and slowly shake his head, a wry smile growing on his face. These men are probably drunk and not trained to fight powerful mages. They're definitely screwed.

He considers chasing after the girl, or at least pretending to chase after her to get away from Victi. There's the high chance he'd get caught, but either he'll be caught talking to, even comforting, the strange probably-stalker, or he can say he went looking for her.

Eh, it's an awfully risky move. Besides, I kind of want to see what she does to these men. The bartender hands him his drink. Drake thanks him and cups one hand around the mug, ready to take a sip when these strangers get whatever's coming to them.

"Why should we leave?" The man with the pinup tat questioned a bit angrily.

"Dude drop it! I didnt realize that girl who left was one of Al's... victims to say the least. Let's go!" The eye patch man says as he practically drags his buddy out.

Meanwhile Jules had run out into the street and found an alley way where she thought she was alone. She heard faint crying from a little girl and a young boy lay bleeding out. "Somebody help him!" She cried.

Jules took a deep breath and walked over. "Let me help him."she said in a calm, soothing voice. And with that she bent down and places her hand over his wound. "Dont be scared okay? I will make him better." She says as her eyes glow white as well as the hand hovering over him. Within a few seconds he gasped for air.

The little girl hugged Jules and thanked her. She then hugged the young boy. When they turned to thank her once more she vanished. "Was I saved by an angel?" The boy asked softly. "She was our miracle!" The girl smiled still hugging the boy.

Victi makes a very hostile ticking sound in the back of her throat, and shakes her head. She doesn't like those guys in the slightest, and wants them to try and get mad at her.

She won't let them leave the bar for a while.

"No, not leaving. Staying and explaining how you can support someone who's done the things you and she have implied he'd done, and why you shouldn't suffer for doing so," she says, looking at her claws. She turns her eyes back toward them and adds on, "NOW."

And she springs her spell. One she used frequently, actually: a frictional force spell, comonly used to make climbing steep surfaces easier. In this case, she'd cranked it up so that the men and their clothing would stick to tables, utensiles, themselves, the floor, chairs, and each other. Any inanimate object, or another person afflicted by the spell. If she did it right, they'd be rapidly forcing themselves into uncomfortable, functionally inescapable positions. It would only last an hour or two before they'd be free, but until then they'd have to count their blessings that Victi hadn't thought to bring her itching powder.

Lisa fumbles through the shelve's contents until she finds a vial of antibiotics and a roll of bandages. Her relief escapes in a quiet sigh and weak smile. Holding her still-bleeding hand close to her chest, she pinches the vial in-between two fingers and swipes the bandages into the crook of her elbow.

After applying some of the medicine, she sits at her desk and wraps her hand with the calm efficiency of the practiced healer she is. There's something therapeutic about accomplishing a simple task. The mundane act of bandaging her self-inflicted injury helps clear her head and more carefully consider the present issue.

She and Raven accidentally came across a fragment of an ancient, magical item. Someone else wants it to complete the item and do God-knows-what with it. They're more than willing to murder for it. That's the part that terrifies Lisa.

She uses the same knife with which she'd sliced her palm open to cut the rest of the roll free from what's wrapped around her palm, then she ties the gauze up, sealing the wound.

Try to destroy it first; knowing what it is, though, that might not be possible. If you can't destroy it, see about finding a place to hide it, or give it to someone else so it isn't your problem.

But despite how badly she doesn't want to be a part of this story, she can't see herself coming away from something like that with a clean conscience.

Hiding it feels like the best option. But where?

She turns around in her seat. "Hey, Raven."

Silence. She looks around the room.

"Raven?"

Again, silence.

Raven is gone.

"Damn it, Raven." She sighs, stands, and marches to the door and throws it open. "Now is a terrible time!" The slamming of the door and her shouting frightens a few nearby crows, who fly away, chastising her with a chorus of angry caws.

Ah, thanks for the reminder. Although she can't usually use her avian form while upset, focusing on the single goal of quickly finding her lost cat helps her shift. Her body twists and shrinks until she's a small, scarred crow whose vision is obscured by the tall grass. The grass stops being a problem when she takes to the canopy, fluttering from branch to branch with a slight bird's-eye view to make the search a little easier on both her limited time and her psyche.

"Woah lady! Calm down! We will explain! This is unnecessary! That woman probably teased him and asked for it!" Tat guy protested.

"DUDE! That girl was clearly hurt! So shut up!" He wanted to slap his buddy but he couldnt move. "Look, I didn't support him. I just heard about his... secret life a few days ago. I thought nothing of it because he was in a different town. What could my word do when I had no proof! Then I heard he was killed by The Demon that has been to many cities and killed many people in the last.. well she has been around for a long time lets just say. Usually at night so no one saw her face until today! Well her human form that is. The demon form people have seen. And trust me... it's pretty scary! After hearing him dead I was both relieved and saddened. I knew him vaguely and up until a few days ago every guy claimed he was a saint... I guess I didn't want to believe it was true." he sighed "Now I know it was... I should've spoken up..." She mumbled as tears rimmed in his eyes.

About five seconds into that, Victi walked back to Drake with nothing more than an "It'll wear off soon," and a dismissive wave to the men. She listened still, though, and cut the duration down to a few minutes. Not that they would know that she'd destabilized the waveform like that, but whatever.

She asked Drake, "Do you mind if we discuss business somewhere more private? We'll see if this takes as long as I expect."